I adore rain. When I was younger, I used to sit out in the backyard, fully clothed, and feel the rain coming down on me. It would freak my mother out when I went outside in a thunderstorm. We had enormous trees surrounding our yard, yet she was certain one small child sitting cross-legged was going to be struck by lightning. I learned to restrain myself when she was around and alert. Instead, I would go sit in the yard under the thunderstorms when it was late at night, and she was asleep. …

Stores, I urge you to find a small place on your premises and add a seat for your customers. You get bonus points if it is in a quiet corner with two chairs. But a single chair, just about anywhere will fit the bill. Most of your customers, disabled or not, will appreciate this action. But I want to tell you about how much your customers with disabilities appreciate this small action.

What do we want? A place to sit!

Many people have small mobility problems. This covers a group including those people using walkers and canes on one end and on the other have a 40-year-old mother…

I was an odd child. I had obsessions and waves of odd things that I would fall into and allow to consume myself. In the 1970s doctors gave few Autism diagnoses, particularly for little girls. I have one now, but it is a bit too late to change my family’s view of me.

Early obsessions

My first obsession was with cats. I loved everything about them (and have lived with many over my life). I wanted to learn about them as well. …

Yesterday, I took off my socks. This is the first time I have gone sockless since last autumn when the temperatures dropped and stayed there. I hope to stay relatively sockless until the chilly winds come again. The sock index is one of my favorite marks of spring moving to its end.

Seasons can spin by when we are involved with work, family, and all the events that demand immediate attention. Mindfulness means that we step away from that hubbub and pay attention to what is happening around us right now. My favorite mindfulness activity is to try to pay…

I dislike shopping. I thought it was all shopping until I hit online shopping, and that I like very much, thank you. I live on the Autism spectrum. A place like Walmart disagrees with many of my symptoms. I am highly sensitive to sensory inputs. I easily get overwhelmed when too much is going on and that overwhelm can become pain if it goes on too long.

I write this not as a screed against the popular chain stores. I hope to illustrate to neurotypical people (and share with neurodivergent people) what life can be like to one person on…

High school was not a good time for me — either academically or socially. If it was for you, I am happy for you. For me it was a time of being on the borders of cliques and having friends who “broke up” with me or did cruel and thoughtless things to me. There were some good ones, and if you are reading this, you are one of them — I am not connected on social media with the bad ones. …

Yeast rolls rising — particularly if they are sitting on the top of an old radiator to do so. Really, any dough rising has a great smell, but my mother’s special yeast rolls that she made for holidays (only). It would compete for the nose with all the other smells of the holidays, but when you got into the little circle of air around the rolls, they came into prominence.

Fast substitute for the memory: brewer’s yeast.

Trees — Evergreens are the thugs of the tree smelling world. You get anywhere near a pine tree, you can smell it. Of…

Thank you. We need a world where we can take the time and space we need to be ourselves. I have wanted that quiet room - or even a quiet chair in a corner so many times when I overstimulate.

I so hate the term "high functioning" or "passing." I'm a human on a spectrum. I earned my Ph.D. and tried to work in their world. It didn't work, but if society would just bend a little bit, I could have a place in it.